Improvement in steam-plows



w. H. H. MILLEN.

Steam-Plow.

No. 30,884 Y Patented Dec. 11. 1860.

N-PETERS, PHOTO-LITHOGRAPHER, WASHINGTON. D c.

UNITED STATES PATENT TOFFICE,

wM. H. n. MILLEN, or LITTLETON, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

IMPROVEMENT IN STEAM-PLOWS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 30,884, dated December11, 1860.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, W. H. H. 'MTLLEN, of Littleton, in the county ofGrafton and State of New Hampshire, have invented a new and ImprovedSteam-Plow; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear,and exact description of the same, reference being had to the annexeddrawings, making a part of this specification, in which- Figure l is aside elevation of my invention. Fig. 2 is a back sectional view of same,taken in the line a; m, Fig. 1. Fig. 3'is a horizontal section of same,taken in the line y y, Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a detached perspective view ofaportion of one of the plows. 7

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the severalfigures.

Thisinvention relates to an improved steamplow of that description inwhich rotary plows are employed.

The object of the invention is to obtain a light, portable, andefficient plowing-machine, one that may be readily manipulated and theparts placed under the complete control of the operator or attendant.

Steam-plows hitherto constructed-at least all those which have passedunder my observation-have been necessarily made of great weight, inorder to obtain sufficient traction that the machine may be propelledalong. This in volves a great expenditure, not only in the constructionof the machine, but also in the running of the same.

By my invention it is believed that the above-mentioned difficulty isobviated, and an extremely light, durable, efficient, and economicalsteam-plow obtained.

To enable those skilled in the art'to fully understand and construct myinvention, I will proceed to describe it.

A represents a carriage, the back part of which is supported by thewheels B B, the front part being supported by a pair of wheels, 0 G,theaxle a of which is connected to the carriage bya king-bolt, b. The axlea has a chain or rope, D, attached to it near its ends at equaldistancefrom the bolt b, as shown clearly by the dotted lines in Fig. 3,and this rope is attached to a vertical shaft, A, which passes upthrough the platform of the carriage and has a hand-wheel, a, on itsupper end.

On the carriage A there is placed transversely a shaft, E, which has apinion, c, at each end of it. These pinions c c engage with toothedwheels d d, which are secured concentrically to the outer sides of thewheels 13 B.

To each side of the carriage A there is attached an inclined bar, 0,thelower ends of which form bearings fora shaft, F, which is below theplatform or bed of the carriage. On this shaft F there are placedloosely two pinions, ff, which may be connected to the shaft F, whendesired, by means of sliding clutches g g. These clutches have each alever, G, connected to them, and the fulcrum-pinsof these levers passinto the under sides of the inclined bars 6 e. The levers G G extendtoward the front part of the carriage and are connected to rods h h, theinner ends of which are attached to arms t i, which are at oppositesides of a vertical shaft, Hysaid shaft passing up through the platformof the carriage and having ahandwheel, j, at its upper end.

To each end of the shaft F there is secured a toothed wheel, I, andthese wheels gear into pinions k k, which are placed on a shaft, J. Theshaft J has its bearin gs in arms K K, the front ends of which arefitted loosely on the shaft F, so that their-outer parts and also shaftJ may swing up and down. 7

On the shaft J there are placed a series of plows,K.Thcseplowsarecomposedofcurved arms I, attached to hubs L, which aresecured to the shaft J side by side. The arms Z have beveled or obliqueface-surfaces m, as shown clearly in Fig. 4, said surfaces having atendency to cast the earth at one side, similar to the mold-board of anordinary plow.

The back ends of the arms K K are attached to a cross-bar, M, which hasropes or chains n n attached to it at about its center. These ropes orchains pass through guides 0 at the under side of the platform of thecarriage, and then pass up through the platform and are secured tohollow shafts N N, which are placed loosely onshafts 0 O. The outer endsof the shafts O 0 have toothed wheels P P on them, one on each, andthese wheels gear into the pinions c c of the shaft E. The hollow shaftsN N have ratchets Q on their inner ends, and the outer ends of saidshafts N have clutches p on them,which, when the shaftsN are shovedoutward, engage with clutches q at the inner sides of the wheels I, andcause the shafts N to be connected to the shafts O 0.

0n the back part of the platform of the car; riage there are placed twouprights, M, to each of which a lever, It, is attached by a fulcrum pin,8. Each lever R hasa pawl,t, attachedto it and a lip u, the lipsprojecting down at the inner sides of the ratchets Q, the levers B being at the opposite sides of the ratchets.

S is a steam-boiler, which is placed on the carriage, and T T are twoengines, which are placed one at each side of the boiler S. Theconnecting-rods of these engines are attached to the shaft E.

The boiler and engines-may be of ordinary construction, and therefore donot require a minute description.

The operation of the machine is as follows:

The carriageis propelled along in consequence 'of the pinions 0 c ofshaft E gearing into the wheels d d, which are attached to the wheels BB of the carriage. The carriage is guided by'turning the shaft A, therope D moving the axle a. As the carriage moves along the shaft J isrotated through the medium of the gearing 0 c d d ff I I It It. As theshaftJ rotates the plows K turn over the ground, and the plows areallowed to rise and fall to conform to theinequalities of the surface ofthe ground in consequence of the shaftJ being placed in the arms K K. r

The rotation of the shaft J, and consequently of the plows K, may bestopped at any time by the operator turning the shaft H, the arms '13 tand rods h h actuating levers G G and moving the pinionsff out ofgearwith the wheels d d.

In case obstructions should lie in the path of shafts N N will berotated and the ropes or chains n n wound upon said shafts and the armsK K and plows K elevated. The pawls t on the levers R R serve to hold upthe plows.

The lips u act the levers being at one side of the ratchets Q and thelevers R at the other Side, cause the shafts N to be moved by a lateraladjustment of the levers R. The plows and their shaft are allowed todescend at any time byraising the levers B so that their pawls t mayclear the ratchets Q.

1 do not claim broadly the employment or use of rotary plows, for theyhave been previously used; but I do claim as new and desire to LettersPatent- 1. The arrangement of the levers G G, sliding pinionsffon shaftF, and the gearingI I 70 k on the shafts F J, essentially as shown,whereby the plows K may be rotated or stopped instantly at the will ofthe operator or-attendant.

2. The arrangement of the levers R R,,Wlth pawls t and lips 24 attached,the ratchets Q on the hollowshafts N N, the clutchesp q, gearing P onthe shafts 0,011 which the hollow shafts N are placed, and the ropes orchains n n, attached to the cross-bar M of the arms K, essentially asshown, for the purpose of elevating the'shaftJand its plows K whendesired.

WM. H. H. MILLEN.

secure by Witnesses:

JOHN M. CHARLTON, GEORGE F. MINER.

